Left handed child playing the recorder....

[SlightlyMadSCAREYthing]

...do they hold it with the opposite had at the top?

And does anyone have any simple tunes they can play?

[SixKinds]

I'm left handed and I play with the left hand on top. Don't know if that's different from right handers or not.

[MyPoorSoreBum]

i guess so, i played it as a left hander and can't see it wld make a difference which hand was on top, not like a flute for example...

[SlightlyMadSCAREYthing]

I think left hand should be at teh top according ot eh 'instructions' we got with it.

[SixKinds]

Think that the skill-level required by each hand is the same, isn't it? So no need for left-handers to be different?
(Tho left handers get used to doing lots of little things in a right-handed way. computer mouse on right, pens in post offices onlittle tiny chains at right of desk. Grrr.

[LIZS]

You have to play it the "right" way round or you can't reach the sharps at the bottom(holes different sizes) or easily progress onto other versions. I had to relearn the fingering, having not been corrected intitially, and I'm right handed ! dd is left handed and about to learn.

[SlightlyMadSCAREYthing]

I think I will see which she is comfortable doing. I just didn't want to force her to do it in an 'uncomfortable' way. I always found that I used the top hand more but the bottom hand had to stretch further to reach the bottom holes.

I have been trying to teach her to tie laces - and she just hasn't picked it up and then the penny dropped - she needed to do it 'the other' way.

Fortunately DP is LHed but for some stuff he has forced him to do things RHed, others (like playing recorder) he just never did

[SlightlyMadSCAREYthing]

Good point about the Sharps LIZS. will encourage her to do it properly if she is comfortable.

[SueW]

I'm left-handed and and played recorder the normal way. And the treble when I moved onto that.

[SlightlyMadSCAREYthing]

Is the treble the middlesized one with different fingering. I was very of the girls that had learnt to play that at primary as they wouldn't let me move on from my Descant at secondary as they already had teh treble players . They wouldn't let me play tenor (the big one?) either even though teh fingering was the same (I think) ...I just had my little descant

[SlightlyMadSCAREYthing]

I have just thought - there will be lots of instruments she won't be able to play left handed won't there - flute, violin, sax?, clarinet? - unless she has expensive LH versions (if they make them?)

[LIZS]

I played the tenor, which was the same fingering, and you definitely needed to reach with your right little finger to the bottom !

[3madboys]

i am left handed and played the descant recorder and the treble recorder with no problems, left hand at the top. i dont think my left handedness was ever questioned as an issue? i also played the flute and the clarinet for a while with no problems

let her have a go and see how she does, but i really cant see it being a problem

[tigerschick]

I don't think it matters for playing instruments as both hands tend to work equally - except for brass. In orchestras the strings definately play the same way so as to stop bows from knocking into eachother. She should be fine

[LIZS]

tbh I think , like hockey, it is best that they are offered no alternative and see how it goes.

[MaryBS]

I never did it any different from right-handers. Don't think it made any difference. You need right hand at the bottom for the last hole, as I remember...

Hockey was a problem - so I played in goal. Sewing machines were also a problem, never really mastered it!

[Sixofone]

I am left handed and don't recall playing it any differently at all.

[MaryAnnSingleton]

me either ! however,I did have to have my guitar strung the other way round.